There is a lovely little art gallery over the road from me, run by the irrepressible Sadie. We share a passion for sustainability and fairness in the world and art. It was there that I met Jessica Baudey the other week; she is about to run a printmaking workshop for the gallery in December. We were talking about the reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse ethos part of my practice and how, as creatives, we hold a unique position within society to affect change within wider society. Her workshop is going to be on collagraphy printmaking. This technique uses recycled materials stuck onto a piece of card, or you can use an old tetra pack and incise or cut out areas.
The plate is then inked, either as a relief print where the protruding surface can be inked or intaglio style where the scored marks can be inked and the plate wiped or some combination thereof. Jessica uses soy-based printing ink, which is environmentally friendly.
The plate is run through a printing press with a piece of printmaking paper, and voilà, you have a print!
Collagraphy comes from the Greek ‘Koll’ to glue and ‘graph’ meaning to draw, but it’s more than that; instead of the waste of relief printing or the chemicals of intaglio etching, it uses odds and ends bubble wrap, string, sandpaper, textiles, fibres, cut card, leaves and grass, all can be used in creating the collagraph plate. These are then coated with a sealant, traditionally a varnish, but can be acrylic medium or even PVA glue (not so environmentally friendly as it is a plastic). It’s creative as different colours and tonal effects can be realised by how the plate is inked and printed.
Jessica works as an art lecturer at our local college; my son went there many years ago and fondly remembers his time in the art department.
Workshops for the public are a different beast than art school; you get everyone from the professional looking for new inspiration to the complete novice or the hobby artist who just wants a day out. All are valid and should be seen. Humanities’ most remarkable achievement is our creativity and our community.
Jessica came to test out my little XCut printing press, and it worked a treat.
I look forward to helping on the day with my press and being part of this community of artists in early December.
Today, I had a long FaceTime chat with Milli, one of my old classmates and our upcoming reunion in London. The talk was about the Drawing Year, RA, what it means to be a Contemporary Fine Artist and what we get out of art school.
We explored in a roundabout way the Ego (reality), Id (instincts) and Superego (morality) and how this relates to our artistic life. What do we want from our art? As gentle as a fun workshop can be, contemporary fine art in London can be its antithesis. Why? Is it the cut and thrust of capitalism and white cube investment that drive the ambitious? Does our artistic drive thrust us forward to unpack our own reality, or do we see it as an opportunity to rebuild a kinder society through art’s ability to touch and connect in a way that nothing else can?
My love for the word tentacular from Monday’s lecture then….
An insidious reach or influence…
Mx.D.P 
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